Sony Ericsson reports continued growth in shipments, sales and profits
Sony Ericsson's Average Selling Price (ASP) decreased sequentially in line with expectation due to an increase in GSM phones in the overall product mix. The company maintained momentum from the previous quarter, and continued to grow while sustaining a consistent level of profitability. Sony Ericsson is revising its global market outlook for 2004 to approximately 600 million units from its previously stated level of over 550 million.
"Sony Ericsson is pleased to report a fourth consecutive quarter of profit. These results reflect continued strong demand for our style-oriented line-up of imaging and multi-media phones. The company has established a solid basis for sustained growth going forward. In addition to reporting successively improving profitability, we have maintained momentum in an increasingly competitive market environment. We are confident that as we continue to enhance our portfolio with exciting and innovative products, the Sony Ericsson brand will become ever stronger", said Miles Flint, President of Sony Ericsson.
During the end of the second quarter a number of new products started shipping to network operators and retailers including Sony Ericsson's first UMTS 3G phone, the Z1010, which has now been launched by over a dozen network operators. The K700, a high-end multi-media phone for GSM markets, and the 'premini', a very small and stylish PDC phone for NTT DoCoMo in Japan, have also started shipping during the quarter.
| Q2 2003 | Q1 2004 | Q2 2004 | |
| Numbers of units shipped (million) | 6.7 | 8.8 | 10.4 |
| Sales (EURO m.) | 1125 | 1338 | 1504 |
| Income before taxes (EURO m.) | -102 | 97 | 113 |
| Net income (EURO m.) | -88 | 82 | 89 |
* Q2 2003 IBT includes restructuring charges of Euro 58m
** Q2 2004 IBT includes consolidation of BMC and Net Income includes deduction of minority interest in BMC
Note:
On June 30, Sony Ericsson announced it had increased its equity stake in a Chinese factory, Beijing Ericsson Putian Mobile Communications Co. Ltd. (BMC), to 51%, taking over majority ownership of the facility from Ericsson. BMC operations have been fully consolidated into Sony Ericsson in the second quarter which had a positive effect on the company's results. The name of the factory has been changed to Beijing SE Putian Mobile Communications Co. Ltd. (BMC).